This is a discussion on 2002 WRX Wagon - The Full Restoration Documentary. within the Builds forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; I recently traded a friend of mine for this car... a 2002 WRX Wagon with 144k on the odo. i ...

2002 WRX Wagon - The Full Restoration Documentary.

I recently traded a friend of mine for this car... a 2002 WRX Wagon with 144k on the odo. i traded a perfectly running, rockin and rollin 2002 Ford Explorer sport.

I've loved this car since he bought it and brought it home in 2003 and i love a good restoration project, so i'm pretty excited about this deal. I've started this thread to document the progress, as well as bounce ideas off you guys, with the hope that i can have a decent DD that will be far more fun than the exploder.

the car had been sitting in his garage for around 3 months when i approached him with the offer. once he decided to go for it, i sprang into action. removed the battery and had it checked. it was, of course, DOA... so i got lucky and exchanged the battery for a used one the guy had laying around. (i just want to hear it start and make sure i'm not trading for a paper weight at this point.)
installed the 'new' battery and some new cables and she cranked right up on the first turn of the key!

there was some ticking from under the hood, not sure if it was injectors or not - buddy says it has always done that... didn't seem to vary with increased idle either, so i'm not too worried about it.

there is some smoke and smells of burning something coming from under the turbo, not sure if the turbo is leaking oil of the half shaft's melted boot is slinging grease all over the downpipe.

suspension is FUBAR, will need new half shafts and suspension all the way around.

first goal is to get this thing road worthy, as my business is about to hit busy season again and i'm gonna be driving all over the state in a couple of months. this is my rough plan so far:

The GR-2 aka Excel-G is excellent for a stock replacement strut. I had those for I don't know how long, no complaints, great quality. You won't see a performance upgrade with those though. Depends on what you want.

The GR-2 aka Excel-G is excellent for a stock replacement strut. I had those for I don't know how long, no complaints, great quality. You won't see a performance upgrade with those though. Depends on what you want.

awesome. not going to be tracking this car, it's already got 144k on the odo... i figure it's days of rough life are behind it now and i'll treat her nicely.

stock replacement with no performance upgrade is just fine with me, thanks for the info!

started on the motor detailing, started pulling pieces from the passenger side and will work my way over to the driver side:

started polishing the mishimoto radiator and cleaning other elements, starting from the top working my way down:

dropped a 10mm socket into the engine bay at one point... 45 minutes later i had finally retrieved it:

turns out, this engine setup is a son of a bitch. i came from the LS world (corvettes, GTOs and camaros) so im used to being able to extend a lazy boy in the engine bay and work from there. Subaru is the devil.

@ schufflerbot, what did you use for cleaning up your headlights? If I may I would like to suggest the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit. I've been using it on my headlights and works amazing!

@ schufflerbot, what did you use for cleaning up your headlights? If I may I would like to suggest the Meguiar's Heavy Duty Headlight Restoration Kit. I've been using it on my headlights and works amazing!

the kits are nice, but i already have all the paint correction materials i need to restore these headlights... at least get them back to decently clear. i'm not finished with them after all, i was just out of 1000 grit sandpaper so i had to skip a step.

i use 600 grit to remove the yellow residue, then 1000 to remove the sand paper marks, then heavy cut meguires, then ultimate compound for the finish.

ordered a new timing belt/tensioner/pulleys/water pump kit from Gates and dropped it off, along with the car, to my local subie dealer yesterday. they're doing a few things for me;

valve cover gaskets, oil filter o-ring and a couple other gaskets that had given out over the last 140,000 miles and needed to be replaced. turns out, this is the smell of burning oil i've been smelling - not the axle boot grease that i thought it was.

here are some pics of the scoop as it sits now, not what i want but still a TON better than the chipping blue paint it was before:

next up to spend money on is the suspension. gonna go with the KYBs mentioned earlier in the thread and, while i'd really like to drop it, i don't want to do a 1.5" and 1" drop. anyone know of any spring sets that will only drop her .5" or so?

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